


Three for Straying (Three for Staying)

by Kalcifer (orphan_account)



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, Pre-Canon, Shapeshifting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-12
Updated: 2015-09-30
Packaged: 2018-04-04 00:37:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4120155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Kalcifer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Rose's death, Amethyst needs a break from being a Gem. Instead, she becomes a cat.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I was going to write another thing in the Larimar and Sphene AU, but now it's months later and I only have this thing.  
> This is technically in response to a prompt on the kink meme asking for cat!Amethyst after Rose does, but the kink meme intimidates me so I'm posting it here instead.

Amethyst knows she's being selfish. This is her last chance to say goodbye to Rose, after all, and Rose deserves closure. But if she stays away and ignores the sounds coming from inside the room, she can almost pretend that nothing is changing.  
  
She's so caught up in her thoughts that she almost misses it. Suddenly, there is a very young voice in the room, and Rose's voice is gone.  
  
Rose is gone.  
  
The next thing Amethyst knows, it is dark out. Her fellow Gems are still occupied with the baby, but she has had a blanket draped over her haphazardly.  
  
As she draws the blanket around herself, she comes to a realisation. With a baby around, the Gems won't have time for her. After all, their only reason to put up with her is gone.  
  
It'll be better for everyone if Amethyst disappears entirely. Purple Puma is more comforting, but too conspicuous. Maybe a compromise is in order...  
  
The blanket falls to the floor as Amethyst shrinks, glowing. A purple cat slips out the door. No one sees it go.  
  
Amethyst makes it as far as the boardwalk before she realises that she needs to find someplace to stay if she's going to commit to being a cat. (A voice in the back of her mind tells her she never commits. She tries to ignore it.)  
  
Fortunately, Amethyst makes an adorable cat. She goes up to the first person she sees, and by the time she's opened her mouth to meow piteously, the human is doomed. "You poor thing!" they say, picking Amethyst up. "Someone must be worried sick about you."  
  
After a moment of hesitation, they put Amethyst in their bag. "I need to finish my route, but then we can stop by the pet store and bring you home. Maybe tomorrow we can hand out flyers or something..."  
  
By the time the human reached their last stop, Amethyst has learned a few things: this person is named Barb, she uses she/her pronouns, and she lives alone with her daughter. Amethyst probably would have learned more if she had paid more attention, but she wasn't worried. No one expects a cat to be perfect.  
  
She does tune back in when they get to the pet store; she has to make sure she gets the best possible food, after all. It's actually going pretty well until Barb tries to get a collar for her, at which point Amethyst throws something of a fit. She knows it's a stupid thing to do, and that she's ruined her chances with Barb and possibly with the whole city, but she can't stand feeling controlled.  
  
Finally she manages to calm down (she only feels how she wants to feel, she only feels how she wants to feel), and she looks up at Barb, bracing for the "I expected better from you" speech.  
  
Instead Barb just laughs, albeit somewhat nervously. "You really don't want a collar, do you? Well, if your owner thought it was all right," she says. "It's not like you're easy to mistake."  
  
They go to check out, and as Barb shows no inclination to inclination to bring up the incident, Amethyst gradually relaxes. She wonders why she didn't do this sooner, until she remembers and is suddenly unable to breathe which is funny because she doesn't actually need to breathe and Rose is gone.  
  
By the time she calms down, they've made it to Barb's house. They're sitting on a couch, with Barb stroking Amethyst's back, and it's actually pretty nice.  
  
Even so, Amethyst makes herself get up, because relying on someone else only ends badly for her. Besides, she hasn't seen the other human yet, and she's curious.  
  
She explores the house for a while, taking in all the little details of life as a human. They have an actual dining room table, for instance, presumably because they eat actual meals together instead of eating a bag of chips alone because no one else wants to eat.  
  
There are occasional toys scattered through the house, but she is unable to find the child they belong to, and eventually she curls up by the door to wait. She refuses to let herself get drawn back into her thoughts, instead letting her mind drift until suddenly the door opens and Amethyst definitely does not jump.  
  
"I'm home!" the kid yells. She's pretty cute, all curly blonde hair and chubby cheeks and a smile too large for her face. "Guess what I did today!"  
  
She's about to elaborate when she sees Amethyst, at which point she promptly abandons thoughts of school. "Why didn't you tell me we were getting a kitty!"  
  
Barb's already suppressing a smile when she walks in. "I didn't know we were getting a cat either, but I saw her on my route and I couldn't just ignore her."  
Sadie nods solemnly. "What's her name?"  
  
"I don't know. Why don't you tell me?" Barb says, and Sadie nods, squinting at Amethyst.  
  
"She looks like a Catrina," she says finally.  
  
"That'll do," Amethyst thinks as she walks over to greet the kid. She's been called worse.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amethysts gets bored. This has never helped her decision-making skills.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I'm actually updating this again. I'm still trying to get back into this writing style, so this update is even shorter than the last chapter. Sorry about that.  
> At least Lars shows up, so I can stop feeling guilty about tagging him.

It's disturbingly easy for Amethyst to fall into a new routine. She plays with Sadie and occasionally even Barb, she sleeps while they're out of the house, and as long as she doesn't think about the past, she's content. (So not that different from before, really.)

However, it doesn't take long for relaxation to turn into boredom. It turns out even sleep gets boring eventually, and the humans spend most of the day out of the house and unable to entertain her.

But Amethyst is nothing if not resourceful (and impulsive and reckless and flawed), so it isn't long before she's hatched a plan. If the humans won't stay with her, she'll just have to follow them.

She decides pretty quickly that she'll have to follow Sadie. She's already seen Barb's job, and it's pretty dull. Besides, Barb would probably notice and bring her back, and Amethyst is not interested in testing the limits of Barb's tolerance.

Sadie, on the other hand, is apparently going to someplace called "school". Amethyst could have sworn she'd heard Barb call it kindergarten once, and while she was obviously mistaken, her interest had been piqued.

She's spent the entire previous day planning, and now she is ready to act. Planning around a cat's limits had been a fun challenge, even if she ended up scrapping most of her plans in favor of the most obvious one. She's already at a disadvantage because of her size; she doesn't need to invite trouble. (And yes, she gets the irony.)

So she's hiding in Sadie's bag with a can of tuna she hopes she can convince the kid to open at lunchtime. There's more space in the bag than she expected, and she spends most of the walk to school trying to avoid being crushed as well as being caught.

But Barb leaves without saying anything about her, so she figures she's probably fine. After another few minutes, she sticks her head out tentatively. She's riding on Sadie's back, so she probably won't be noticed, but she can see reasonably well. The ground is covered in sand, and it seems to be more deliberate than the normal light coat that seems to cover everything in town. There are strange structures here and there, like a seat suspended by chains. It doesn't look very comfortable; it doesn't even have a back.

Sadie starts talking, and Amethyst quickly retreats back into the bag. "Hi Lars! Guess what!"

She's answered by an unfamiliar voice, presumably this "Lars" person. "What?"

"Mom says that if no one claims Catrina in the next few weeks, we can keep her!" Sadie says excitedly.

She and Lars keep talking, but Amethyst is suddenly less interested. She's not sure if she's more surprised that she wasn't expected to stay before or that she might be able to now. (She shouldn't be surprised at all; she doesn't make good first impressions but is often fun to laugh at.)

After a moment of processing, she decides to ignore it. This doesn't change anything, and it wouldn't matter if it did, because these humans are fine but not particularly special. She can always find someone else. Maybe she'd even leave Beach City, if she had to, and that wouldn't matter because it's just a place. (There's nothing here for her anymore, Rose is _dead_ and no one needs her and even as a cat she's just a burden -)

She doesn't hear the teacher calling Sadie in to start class.


End file.
